Playing With Trouble (Desire Bay 1)

“I’m so happy for you, baby,” he said and kissed her. “I, ah, I have to go into the warehouse today to take care of a few things.” Things like adjusting the schedule, figuring out how to make everything cohesive, and likely having to drop some contracts to make Cal’s job work.

Laura frowned. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he said and kissed her. “The business is going to be great. The shop and the warehouse included.”

She smiled. “We should go to dinner and celebrate,” she said.

“Why, Miss Baughman, are you asking me on a date?”

She kissed him. Soft and sweet, and Jake’s heart was in trouble. “Yes,” she said. “I am.”

“Then I’d be a fool to pass it up.”

“Tomorrow night?” she asked.

Jake nodded. “Tomorrow night it is.”

“Are you going to stare at your muffin or eat it?” Erica asked, sitting on the opposite side of Jake’s kitchen table. The twins were playing Wii in the living room, giving Jake no excuse not to sit there while his sister hammered him with a scrutinizing glare.

“I’m just feeling off,” he said. He’d spent all the previous day at the warehouse and realized he had to hire his replacement or lose three contracts, because Mannie couldn’t handle the load all by himself and Laura had the flowers and design project to think about. Now he was home, and he should be happy that Laura was staying for good. He just wanted the business to be okay. To make Walt happy.

“Love is never easy,” Erica said and took a bite of her own blueberry muffin.

Yeah, he could agree. He did love Walt and the business.

“It’s hard when the business you’re trying to do right by is in his name, though.”

“I’m talking about the other Baughman, idiot,” Erica said.

Jake frowned. “Laura? No, I don’t love her.” Sure, he cared about her. Liked her. A lot. But love?

“You sure? Because you’re acting like you do.”

“How would you know?” Jake asked.

“For starters, you’re keeping dead flowers on your kitchen table.”

“She worked hard on that centerpiece, and it’s not dead.”

“It’s fermenting.”

Jake shook his head. Whatever, he didn’t care. He liked it. Dead or not.

“And,” Erica went on, “worrying about her feelings over your own. Trying to keep her close. Feeling guilty because you lied to her.”

“I didn’t lie,” he protested.

“You sure as hell haven’t been a hundred percent honest.”

“I’m trying to do right by Walt. By the business. By her. By everyone,” Jake told her. And he had no idea how he was holding it together when he felt like such a failure.

“You’re more worried about a man who is retiring and a place made of sticks and stones than the living, breathing woman standing in front of you,” Erica said.

“I can’t make everyone happy,” Jake mumbled. The solution he’d come up with for Laura getting the deal she wanted and that the shop needed so badly was the best he could do.

“It’s not about making everyone happy. It’s about doing what you know is right and facing the consequences of that. You have to risk what you love to gain anything in this life.”

Jake looked up and met his sister’s eyes. Holy shit . . . he did love Laura. Somehow he’d come to care about her feelings over everything else, and that’s why he was sick about all this. He’d risked the business, the steady income, the secure and slow progress. All so she could thrive and have her shot. And he had to tell her the truth. All of it.